phone numbers
by not a straight trumpet
Summary: A quiet night at a restaurant after Reina's audition becomes something more.


**a/n:** dark kyoani show me the forbidden tutti quartet interactions

anyway i was thinking about how it's been a long-standing headcanon of mine that kumiko and reina started dating after episode 11, and i was thinking about how we never saw them giving each other their phone numbers and how we deserved more tutti quartet scenes, and so this was born

* * *

Kumiko felt as if she'd just had her insides violently rattled, shaken up until there was nothing left, but she didn't mind. She didn't mind at all, not when Reina had won the audition just as she deserved and Hazuki and Midori had started to drag her along to celebrate her victory.

"You did great, Kousaka-san!" Hazuki chirped.

"It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard!" Midori cried, hovering around Reina like a tiny, fluffy hummingbird.

"Thank you, Kawashima-san." Reina nodded politely as they spoke, but Kumiko could see that her thoughts were miles and miles away, her eyes glazed over and distant, her hair still messy and her fingers still indented with the trumpet fingerings. She wanted to say something - _anything_ \- to Reina, but her heart had turned to jelly and so she was content to simply watch Hazuki and Midori's eager (if slightly useless) encouragements.

"Hey, why don't we go out and get something to eat?" Hazuki craned her neck upwards to be at eye level with Reina, though it really just gave the impression of a weird duck. Kumiko stifled a laugh. "You know, to celebrate!"

"I think . . . I'd like that," Reina said after a moment, her words sounding as if they were picked with the utmost care. "Where would we go?"

"There's a nice fast food place right on the way to the train station," Midori piped up. "We could go there."

"Kousaka-san's probably used to fancier stuff than that," Hazuki whispered to her, and both of them giggled. Reina folded her arms.

"The fast food place sounds perfectly fine to me. Kumiko?"

"Uh, yeah! Sounds great."

"Let's go, then."

* * *

The walk was as tense as it was awkward - Hazuki and Midori still trying to figure out whether Reina was a friend or a stranger, Kumiko trailing just a bit behind when she couldn't keep her eyes off of her. The haunting, clear notes of the _Crescent Moon Dance_ solo still rang through her head. The trumpet that had been the vessel to such a piece now sat, snug, in the case Reina swung by her side. The sheen of polish on the case could be seen even now, in broad daylight, but Kumiko noticed a few scratches nonetheless.

 _It's well-loved,_ she thought. Reina still walked ahead.

"So, Kousaka-san," Hazuki said, trying (and succeeding, for the most part) to match Reina's clipped, rapid pace. "Do you think the band's gonna make it to Nationals?"

"It depends on how well we play." Reina wasn't looking at Hazuki as she spoke. "That's all."

"Hmm, I get that! We'll be cheering you on from the sides. Natsuki-senpai and myself and the rest of our group. You can count on us!" Hazuki gave her a double thumbs-up and a grin that made Kumiko imagine a twinkle coming from her teeth. Reina closed her eyes as a smile slowly made its way to her lips.

"Thank you, Katou-san," she murmured.

"We're here!" Midori squeaked, pointing to the too-bright lighting and the colorful signage of the fast food restaurant.

They all ran forward.

* * *

"Man, these things are great!" Hazuki sighed dreamily as she bite into her fries with enough gusto to scare Kumiko a little bit. "Don't you think so, Kumiko?"

"Y-yeah, they're . . . good." She snuck another glance at Reina. With her chin balanced in one hand as she stared off into some unknown distance, Kumiko couldn't help but feel in awe of her once again. Suddenly, Reina wriggled from her booth and stood up.

"Would it be alright if I talked to Kumiko for a moment?" Hazuki and Midori both blinked up at her and nodded. Kumiko followed, confused, as Reina led her outside.

"What was that?" Kumiko whispered. It was nighttime, but the weather was still humid, the air thick and damp. "W-why'd you lead me outside like this?" Reina looked around before she responded, uneasiness plain on her face.

"Did you mean it?" she said quietly. One foot tapped the dirty sidewalk just slightly.

"What?"

"What you said before the audition. Was it just something spur-of-the-moment to encourage me on, or did you mean it?"

Kumiko thought of Reina's hand holding her cheek so gently, thought of her electric touch and how brilliant her violet eyes were up close, thought of how the girl in front of her made her knees go weak even now.

"Yeah," she finally said.

"I meant it, too." Reina pressed a hand to her forehead, pushing her hair back with a shaky laugh. "It feels strange to say that out loud, doesn't it?"

"I guess."

"What does it mean, now, then?" Reina was quiet, for a moment, as Kumiko mulled it over.

"Oh . . . _oh."_

"I figured you'd say something like that."

"R-Reina, I . . . I don't really know what to say?" With her sentence curled upwards like a question, Kumiko didn't have the faintest idea of how Reina could answer it. "But, uh, but one thing's for certain. I think I like you- I think I'd like this."

She said nothing more for just a few seconds after that, for Reina's lips were pressed to hers and it was brilliant, wonderful, all the words in the world meant to dress up something as simple as a kiss rolling themselves around her when Reina was here, like this, with her.

It was not a shock when Reina pulled away - instead, it was the feeling of slowly diving underwater, knowing you'd soon come up for air, knowing it would be right there when you did.

"I just realized," she said, smiling through the hand she now used to cover her mouth. "We still don't have each other's phone numbers, do we?"

"Haha, I guess we don't. We just made out, and we can't even call each other." Kumiko dug her phone from her pocket and handed it off as Reina did the same, and soon their numbers were saved in the phones' code, swathed in zeros and ones to keep there until one of them broke. "There you go."

"We should get back to the others."

"Y-yeah. I guess they'll be wondering where we are, huh?" The sky had darkened around them, and a few cars beeped somewhere in the distance where they couldn't see.

"They will." Holding Kumiko's hand like it was the easiest thing in the world, Reina started for the door again. "I don't mind that, though. They'll forget soon enough, and if they don't, I think they're good people. They won't mention it to others."

"You're, uh, you're pretty sure about that, Reina." Kumiko looked up to see a few moths flapping their tiny wings around a streetlight. "You like them, huh? Hazuki and Midori, I mean."

"I do. They're nice."

"I'm glad, Reina." Kumiko held her hand tighter. "I'm really, really glad."

* * *

"Where _were_ you two?" Hazuki slumped over the table, tilting her head to look at the returning pair. "Your food went all cold, it's gonna taste really bad if you actually eat it."

"Bathroom," Kumiko blurted out at the same time Reina said "band business." Midori raised one eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Anyway, anyway, you've gotta try these milkshakes, the place just added them to the menu and they're _amazing."_

"It's true!" Midori squealed in delight. "We're only buying the best for Kousaka-san's celebration!" She raised her half-empty plastic cup and bumped it against Hazuki's. "Believe me, Kousaka-san, I've seen some really amazing trumpet solos, but yours was _incredible!_ "

"Thank you." Reina sat down, taking a bite of a now-cold fry, and the four girls stayed there until the store's owner kicked them out and they talked and laughed for the rest of the night.

* * *

 **a/n:** i was at otakon on saturday and i got to meet tumblr user taki-sensei and it was just. a really amazing experience.


End file.
